Working Agreements
Taming Team Frictions
My 9-year-old son recently joined two reading challenges: an individual quest to read 40 books during the school year and a seemingly less daunting team-based "Battle of the Books" involving 10 specific books. While the solo challenge seemed straightforward, to me and my husband the team challenge sparked the past pains faced in all group projects and those mere 10 books seemed more Everest like than the individual 40 to read.
As I watched my son dive into these challenges with enthusiasm unfazed by the brutal reality of group projects, I was reminded of a crucial lesson in life, we shouldn’t avoid teamwork simply because it’s harder. But how might we improve the whole messy process of working with other complex and messy humans?
The Friction of Teamwork
In our lives, we often gravitate towards individual tasks, sometimes to avoid the inherent friction of team dynamics. Yet, it's precisely these collaborative experiences that offer the most valuable lessons, both in success and in challenge. It’s also where the magic of making meaningful impact comes in to play.
Teams are complex systems. When we bring together multiple individuals with diverse goals, tools, and backgrounds, friction is inevitable. This friction can manifest in various ways:
Communication misalignments
Conflicting work styles
Differing priorities
Inconsistent use of tools and processes
While we can't eliminate all friction, we can certainly reduce it. One powerful tool for doing so is the implementation of working agreements.
Working Agreements: Lubricating the Gears of Collaboration
Working agreements are co-created guidelines that help teams navigate their interactions and processes. They address the "shadow norms" that often develop in teams - those unwritten rules that new members must learn through trial and error.
Consider this common scenario of communication friction:
Your team uses multiple platforms - email, Slack, Google Workspace chat, text messages, and phone calls. Each team member has their preference: Stacy responds best to texts, Steve prefers calls, Zander uses any platform, while Cindy rarely checks Slack, requiring email follow-ups.
This lack of standardization isn't just frustrating; it's a significant time sink. In modern workplaces, people can waste up to 20 minutes deciding which platform to use for a single message. Multiply that across a team and throughout a workweek, and the lost productivity becomes substantial.
Here's an example of a working agreement that could address this communication issue:
Example Team Communication Agreement:
Use Slack for all non-urgent team communications.
Use email for formal communications or when including external stakeholders.
Use phone calls or text messages only for urgent matters requiring immediate attention.
Respond to Slack messages within 4 business hours.
Update Slack status when unavailable for extended periods.
Schedule a monthly review of this agreement to assess its effectiveness and make necessary adjustments.
This working agreement sets clear expectations for communication channels, response times, and ongoing evaluation. By implementing such an agreement, teams can significantly reduce the time spent deciding how to communicate and ensure more efficient and consistent interactions.
The Ripple Effect of Unclear Expectations
The friction extends beyond communication methods. Many aspects of teamwork suffer from unnecessary resistance simply because we haven't created clarity around them, leaving team members to navigate a sea of assumptions.
As the Scrum Alliance notes, "This lack of dialogue is a patent recipe for disappointment. Those disappointments add up and consume the social capital of a team. Instead of using the collective intelligence for the benefit of the mission, the team grows apart, becoming a bunch of individuals rather than a team or, in the worst case, the social system collapses because of it."
Crafting Effective Working Agreements
Working agreements are:
Co-created & mutually agreed upon
Adaptive to changing needs
Written down for clarity
Regularly reviewed and updated
They are not:
Rigid policies imposed from above
Set in stone and unchangeable
Areas Where Working Agreements Reduce Friction
Communication protocols
Decision-making processes
Workload distribution
Meeting structures
Accountability mechanisms
Conflict resolution procedures
Work-life balance expectations
Tool usage and standardization
Feedback processes
Cultural integration
By developing working agreements in these areas, teams can proactively address friction points and create a more harmonious and productive work environment.
Bringing It Full Circle
As I observe my son's excitement for his team reading challenge, I'm reminded that effective collaboration is a skill that's valuable at any age. For us in the nonprofit and social change sectors, the lesson is clear: By implementing thoughtful working agreements, we can harness the power of teamwork while minimizing the friction that often accompanies it.
Just as my son's challenge emphasizes both individual reading and team collaboration, our organizations can benefit from a similar dual focus. We can nurture personal growth while fostering collective harmony, turning potential friction points into opportunities for smoother, more effective teamwork.
In the end, with the right approach and tools like working agreements, our next team project might feel less like a battle against friction and more like a well-oiled machine working towards a common goal.
